A powder blue bottle vase. China, Kangxi

This bottle vase has a globular body and a long and slender cylindrical neck. It is painted in underglaze powder blue and overglaze famille verte enamels with gold. Around the body, the bottle has three multilobed panels reserved in white and outlined in iron-red.

Each of the three cartouches is decorated with a different design. The first panel shows motifs from the Hundred Antiques: the vase with peacock feathers and a coral branch (meaning “may you achieve the highest official rank”), the scholar’s scroll, the artemisia leaf, the books, the incense burner, the ruyi and the brush

Two other cartouches each depict prunus blossoms, which symbolise resilience and renewal, and chrysanthemum, symbolizing longevity.

 

COUNTRY : China
PERIOD : Kangxi period (1662-1722)
MATERIAL : Porcelain
SIZE : 27.5 cm
REFERENCE : E623
STATUT : sold
Related works :

Three bottles of this size and form, from the collection of King William I, previously in the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities, are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam[1].

Two bottles from the collection of George IV of England (1762-1830) are in the collection of Buckingham Palace.

A larger example with a similar decoration is in the collection of the Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden and published by Christiaan Jörg in Famille Verte – Chinese Porcelain in Green Enamels[2].

[1] Inv.no. AK-NM6368-A, B, C

[2] 2011, pp. 108-109, no. 100.

Additonal informations :

Bottle vases with an almost spherical body and long neck may have been inspired by Near-Easter glass pieces made in the 9th century[1]. Usually associated with Islamic culture, this type of ware was made in different materials.

[1] Noble Blue, 2023, Jorge Welsh books, p. 246